Orginally, Harold Frederic had titled his novel Illumination instead of The Damnation of Theron Ware.  Although the title that the book was given does seem appropriate in regard to Theron's character, the title Illumination seems to more appropriately address the women's role in the book.  This idea is exemplified when Theron first enters into Celia's apartment.  "Theron Ware looked about him with frankly undisguised astonishment. The room in which he found himself was so dark at first that it yielded little the eye, and that little seemed altogether beyond his comprehension.  His gaze helplessly followed Celia and her candle about as she busied herself in the world of illumination" (183).  Here Celia is not only "illuminating" her room, but also illuminating the truth about her character.  She is a woman who only belongs to herself and no one else, she is bold, and she is liberated.  In fact, each of the women in the Damnation of Theron Ware illuminates a truth about who they are as women.  They are not simply the "Madonna" nor are they the nude statues.  But instead, each woman is struggling to show the men in the novel that they do not fall nicely into any stereotype; each woman is her own and in that struggling to shed light on this fact to others like Theron who are so naive of their emancipation.